Sometimes growers need a helping hand on the farm at harvest time, with a repair, or on a building project, and sometimes they just need someone to listen. The North Carolina Agromedicine Institute Farm Stress Counseling Program connects agricultural producers, workers, and families to local mental health services. Dr. Alyssa Spence is the institute’s interim director.
“One of the things that we love to do at the institute is work along the continuum. So whether it’s working directly with families on a local level or, you know, pushing that all the way up to partners on the state level, partners, you know, even at an international level, to look at the issue of mental health, because farm stress is different, and so we take all of those perspectives into consideration whenever we have our approach to mental health in the agricultural community.”
One of the services they offer is called Farmer to Farmer.
“You have a peer farmer and a mentor farmer, and it’s basically peer counseling. And those mentor farmers have gone through specialized training so that they can do active listening, and they can offer perspective by listening non-judgmentally, to a farmer who may be experiencing some farm stress that they need help managing. So those might be matched based on a commodity. We always make sure that they’re never in the same county or (not) located close by, so you have that level of, you know, if you want to remain anonymous, you can.”
Spence says they also offer counseling services.
“The counselors in what we call the North Carolina Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, they have gone through agricultural competency training, so they know that going no-contact with a family member may not be an option in a farm business situation. So they understand not only farming as a business, but they also understand farming as a way of life, and so they’re able to tailor their response and their counseling to understanding that lifestyle.”
You can visit ncagromedicine.org for more information, including helpline numbers to call or text.